BURNLEY town hall bosses came under fire after they urged the Mayor's new car should be a foreign one.

Councillor Harry Brooks said it was "outlandish" the borough's figurehead would be driven around in a Saab.

The Swedish car has been recommended to replace the ageing Ford Granada Scorpio that has been the civic car for the last eight years. Cash-strapped council chiefs say the authority cannot afford a so-called British alternative.

Mr Brooks, an independent councillor, said: "For the Mayor to be driving around in a posh Swedish car makes him and the council look ridiculous. I don't think the people in the town will care for it.

"I share the view that we would have been able to acquire a car from a British manufacturer."

He added: "Officers claim this is the best possible deal they could have got. But if there was any difference in cost, it would have been marginal at the most."

But John Wells, the council's member services manager, said it was almost impossible to define a British vehicle and that Mr Brooks's criticism was not justified.

He said the council's tight budget meant that the best deal had to be sought. "The preferred car was a Vauxhall Omega Elite, but that model was way off the budget," he said. "The difference in cost was significant."

Officers say they have also faced criticism for choosing to buy the car from a dealer outside Burnley. But Mr Wells said Bay Horse Saab, in Mellor, near Blackburn, was, in fact, the nearest Saab dealer.

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